In What to Pray For (Nodin Press), Michael Kiesow Moore bears witness to loss, to bullying, to social injustice. With both precise honesty and a welcoming hand, he invites the reader to stories of not just death and dying, but the ways the departed continue to live in one’s life. Likewise he tells brutal tales of being bullied, and how many young people took their lives because of it. The thread that connects the many themes of this poetry collection is the power of compassion to heal, not just one’s self, but the world. In asking “What to pray for?”, Moore shares the answers he finds from art, nature, the creative process, and conversations with angels.
About the Author:
Michael Kiesow Moore is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. He was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming and grew up in Florida and Maryland. A Minnesota transplant, he loves its lively literary and artistic communities. He received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Hamline University and his work has appeared in several books and journals, including Among the Leaves: Queer Male Poets on the Midwestern Experience, Water~Stone Review, Talking Stick, Evergreen Chronicles, The James White Review, and A Loving Testimony: Losing Loved Ones Lost to AIDS. His awards have included a Minnesota State Arts Board fellowship, a Loft Mentor Series Award, and nominations for a Pushcart Prize in poetry and the Minnesota Book Award. He co-curates the Birchbark Books Reading Series at Birchbark Books and teaches creative writing classes. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota. For more information, www.michaelkiesowmoore.org.
